Port Channel Definition And Standards; Port Channel Benefits; Port Channel Implementation - Dell PowerEdge M IO Aggregator Command Reference Manual

Port Channel Definition and Standards

Link aggregation is defined by IEEE 802.3ad as a method of grouping multiple physical interfaces into a
single logical interface—a link aggregation group (LAG) or port channel. A LAG is "a group of links that
appear to a MAC client as if they were a single link" according to IEEE 802.3ad. In FTOS, a LAG is
referred to as a port channel interface.
A port channel provides redundancy by aggregating physical interfaces into one logical interface. If one
physical interface goes down in the port channel, another physical interface carries the traffic.

Port Channel Benefits

A port channel interface provides many benefits, including easy management, link redundancy, and
sharing.
Port channels are transparent to network configurations and can be modified and managed as one interface.
For example, you configure one IP address for the group and that IP address is used for all routed traffic on
the port channel.
With this feature, you can create larger-capacity interfaces by utilizing a group of lower-speed links. For
example, you can build a 40-Gigabit interface by aggregating four 10-Gigabit Ethernet interfaces together.
If one of the four interfaces fails, traffic is redistributed across the three remaining interfaces.

Port Channel Implementation

An Aggregator supports only port channels that are dynamically configured using the link aggregation
control protocol (LACP). For more information, refer to
channels are not supported.
Table 10-2
Table 10-2. Number of Port Channels per Platform
Platform
M IO Aggregator
As soon as a port channel is auto-configured, FTOS treats it like a physical interface. For example, IEEE
802.1Q tagging is maintained while the physical interface is in the port channel.
Member ports of a LAG are added and programmed into hardware in a predictable order based on the port
ID, instead of in the order in which the ports come up. With this implementation, load balancing yields
predictable results across switch resets and chassis reloads.
A physical interface can belong to only one port channel at a time.
Each port channel must contain interfaces of the same interface type/speed.
132 | Interfaces
lists the number of port channels per platform.
Link Aggregation. Statically-configured port
Port-channels
128
Members/Channel
16